What Evil Lurks

We once lived in a house with a mold problem. We aren’t sure when or how it started, and we didn’t notice at first. We were made aware of the problem when Andrea pulled a leather belt out from the back of the closet that contained more “culture” on it than on a liberal arts college campus. Further investigation revealed that the mold began in the HVAC system and had infected the duct work. For so long, an unseen hazard not only lurked, but grew surreptitiously throughout our house.

Like mold in a house, bitterness poses a hazard to our spiritual health as well. One may best describe bitterness as an unsettled anger and resentment over a past hurt or disappointment. This failure to forgive threatens our walk with God. Consider what the Word says:

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. – Hebrews 12:15

Bitterness, like a root, begins unseen, and continues to seethe beneath the surface. But bitterness cannot stay hidden for long – it erupts like a volcano spewing boiling lava of resentment. Bitterness creates trouble for the one who harbors it.

First, bitterness affects our body. Studies link bitterness to increased heart trouble, high blood pressure, gastro-intestinal disorders, and sleep disorders, as well as a number of other physical maladies. Our minds control what happens in our bodies, and an unforgiving spirit keeps our nervous systems churning at an unhealthy rate.

Even more dangerously, bitterness affects our spirit. The clamor of a bitter memory drowns out the still small voice of God. The one harboring bitterness loses the ability to see life through the lens of God’s activity, but instead views all circumstances through the smoky filter of unforgiveness.

Also, bitterness affects our relationships – it “defiles many.” One person’s bitterness becomes another’s hurt when a bitter person carelessly slings the hot lava of resentment. I once heard a saying I have found to be true: “Hurt people hurt people.” A bitter person is negative, complaining, and argumentative; never a joy to be around, but rather a nuisance to be avoided.

So what can we do when forgiveness is difficult to demonstrate? In a recent sermon titled The Landmine of Unforgiveness, Dr. Charles Stanley reminds that while we may never be able to forget the hurt someone has done to us, it is necessary that we forgive the offense of the hurt. He mentions that the key lies in how we choose to remember the hurt. When a painful experience comes to mind, we can choose to revisit the hurt, or to continually forgive the offense.

Let me encourage you to do a bitterness audit of your life. Has someone caused you the kind of hurt that you enjoy revisiting? Have life’s disappointments created a scab that you cannot stop reopening? Acknowledge your hurts and their sources. Release your offenses and let God wash you clean. Sure, you may have to do it countless times for every offense, but the liberation and healing is worth it.

The Crud

I have had a cold now . . . for about 3 years. Well, actually it has only been three weeks, but it seems like years to me. I never get sick, but this time? YIKES! I told my admin today that if mucus were gold I’d be Bill Gates! And, of course, now Andrea has it, and bad case if it, too. Yet another reason to hate winter - it is cold and flu season. I view every person I see as a potential carrier, a transmitter of miserable germs.

“The Crud” as it is called is highly contagious. So also is a bitter spirit. Consider a warning from the Bible:

Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. – Hebrews 12:14-15

A negative and bitter spirit is highly contagious and spiritually detrimental. Hebrews refers to it as a root springing up out of the ground. Bitterness starts beneath the surface where no one can see it, but it doesn’t stay hidden for long. You can just look at a bitter person and see it written all over their face, and eventually their words and actions will spew the mucus of bitterness everywhere they go. This particular weed of discontent not only causes trouble for the carrier but it also “defiles many.” If we are not careful we can allow people around us who are negative to infect us and turn our otherwise healthy spirit into a congested, negative mess.

The advice experts give us to lessen our odds of catching “The Crud” can also give us some help to avoid catching the “Bitterness Crud” from others. The best line of defense against germs is to avoid infected people. I think that is sound spiritual advice as well. When others come to you to complain about their church, their pastor, their Sunday school, or whatever, just stop them. Tell them you don’t want to hear it. There is a difference in compassionately listening to someone’s troubles verses giving them an outlet to pass on their poison and gain momentum for their “cause.”

The experts also encourage us to wash our hands often to keep germs away from us. Again, this is great advice. Think about it. Doctors and nurses touch sick people all the time yet seldom succumb to the same bugs they treat. How can they work in the middle of microbe hell and never be singed by its fire? They wash their hands all the time. They treat the sick without becoming one of them. We are called to be compassionate toward those who are hurting and to do all we can to help them, but we must be careful never to take ownership of their offense. My friend Chris recently wrote a great blog about the dangers of taking on the offenses of others. I encourage you to read it. When others come to us with their negativity, we help them heal not by encouraging their negativity but by helping them find positive ways to cope and deal with their hurt.

Then also consider the benefit of keeping your immune system at peak performance levels. Essential vitamins and herbs are beneficial in strengthening our body’s self-defense against germs. So also we need to nurture our souls with some vital spirit strengthening resources -infusing our minds with God’s Word, fortifying our spirits with regular meaningful prayer, and cleansing our hearts with honest confession of sin. The best treatment for the “Negativity Crud” is prevention. When all is well with our soul, the Bitterness Bug will not survive and thrive.

It’s cold and flu season right now, but we are susceptible to bitterness and negativity at anytime. Protect yourself, it’s germy out there.